Twitter as a security device A single-case study on Geert Wilders’ use of Twitter during the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections Picture by Yordi Dam Author: Melanie Schnezler Master Political Science: International Relations Research Project: European Security Politics Supervisor: Rocco Bellanova Second reader: Marieke de Goede Student number: 11234839 Date: June 2017 Words: 20.237 1 Explanation of the cover photo This photo was taken by Yordi Dam and used in the newspaper article written by Clara van de Wiel for the Nieuw Rotterdamse Courant (NRC) named “Hoe Wilders via Twitter de revolutie voorbereidt – [own translation] How Wilders is preparing the revolution throug Twitter” (van de Wiel 2017). The photo was taken from Geert Wilders while tweeting in the parliament, and it illustrates of how much importance Twitter is to Wilders. 2 Abstract Today over 300 million people in the world use Twitter to send out messages about their personals views, opinions and experiences. Amongst them are many Dutch politicians. Even though the platform was originally created for communication purposes, today it is often used for the promotion of political ideas and opinions. Geert Wilders, party leader of the Dutch Freedom Party; Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), demonstrates this by regularly referring to his political stances in his tweets. The political importance of the platform is however often been overlooked. This research argues for Twitters’ political importance by analyzing Geert Wilders’ use of Twitter, for the performance of security, during the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections. The research uses the security practices theory of Amicelle et al. to emphasize the importance that devices have on the outcome of security practices. Amicelle et al.’s angle on devices, permits us to analyze the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter contribute to Wilders’ performance of security. By defining these characteristics and comparing them to those of other forms of speech acts, the thesis shows the uniqueness of Twitter. By exploring Wilders’ social disposition towards the platform and the context in which his tweets are best considered, the thesis gives the reader a full understanding of Wilders’ way of using Twitter for security purposes and of the political power it is able to have. The research concludes that Twitter, when used for security purposes, can be considered an important tool for the promotion of Wilders’ security visions. 3 List of Abbreviation CDA Christen-Democratisch Appèl (own translation: Christian Democratic Appeal) EU European Union IR International Relations MP Member of Parliament NRC Nieuw Rotterdamse Courant PVV Partij voor de Vrijheid (own translation: Freedom Party) SMS Short Message Service US United States VVD Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (own translation: People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy) 4 List of Tables Table.1 General structure of thesis’ analysis chapter [own table]..………………..31 Table 2. An overview of Wilders’ tweets [own table].....................................................43 Table 3. An overview of Wilders’ parliamentary speeches [own table]....…………….48 List of Figures Figure 1. Left: The scientific method of research: inductive and deductive..………25 Figure 1. Right: The scientific method adopted with variables from this research……..25 Figure 2. Results of the Dutch 2017 parliamentary election…………………….….......54 Figure 3. Graphic on the polls between October 2016 till April 2017…………….....56 List of Pictures Picture 1. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ tweet, posted on 07-12-2016………….........8 Picture 2. Picture of Twitter sketch by Jack Dorsey…………………………...…...……9 Picture 3. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ tweet, posted on 10-12-2016............……....34 Picture 4. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ tweet, posted on 07-12-2017……………....35 Picture 5. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ tweet, posted on 05-12-2016……………..45 Picture 6. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ retweet, posted on 20-02-2017…………….46 Picture 7. Parliamentary question of Geert Wilders, sent on 28-03-2017………………..49 Picture 8. Parliamentary questions of Geert Wilders, sent on 20-02-2017…………….…51 5 Table of Contents Explanation of the cover photo ............................................................................................... 2 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Abbreviation ................................................................................................................. 4 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. 5 List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... 5 List of Pictures .......................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Formulation of the problem and societal and academic relevance ............................ 11 1.3 Structure of the research ............................................................................................ 12 2. Theoretical framework ..................................................................................................... 14 2.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 14 2.1 Critical security studies ............................................................................................. 15 2.2 The practice turn ........................................................................................................ 16 2.3 The security practice formula .................................................................................... 18 2.4 Why not securitization theory? .................................................................................. 20 2.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 22 3. Research design and methods ........................................................................................... 24 3.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 24 3.1 A qualitative research design ..................................................................................... 24 3.2 Inductive versus deductive research .......................................................................... 25 3.3 A single-case study design on the Twitter use of Geert Wilders ............................... 26 3.4 A three-fold analysis .................................................................................................. 27 3.5 Reflection on reliability and validity of the research plus possible obstacles ........... 30 4. Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 31 4.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 31 4.1 The social disposition of Wilders .............................................................................. 32 4.1.1 Wilders’ social position towards media ................................................................... 33 4.1.2 Wilders’ social position towards his security measures ..................................... 36 6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 42 4.2 Exploring the socio-technical differences between Wilders’ tweets and parliamentary speech acts ................................................................................................................. 44 4.2.1 Analyzing Wilders’ tweets ................................................................................. 44 4.2.2 Exploring Wilders’ parliamentary questions ...................................................... 49 4.2.3 Comparing tweets with parliamentary questions ............................................... 52 4.3 Context ....................................................................................................................... 53 4.3.1 The Dutch electoral system ................................................................................ 54 4.3.2 Specificities of the PVV and the overall context of the elections ............................ 56 5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 58 6. Literature ......................................................................................................................... 62 7 1. Introduction Picture 1. Screen caption of Geert Wilders’ tweet on Islamic immigration, posted on 07-12-2016. The picture above (picture 1.) shows a Twitter message, also known as a tweet, from Geert Wilders’ Twitter account approximately three months before the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, held on the 15th of March. This direct and arguably harsh language in his tweets is not uncommon when scrolling through the Twitter page of the party leader of the PVV, who’s party became the second largest party of the Netherlands winning 20 out